Second Chances Side Story
by pokernbetting
Summary: A side story to Second Chances. Sanada gets angry at Rai when he overhears a conversation. Is this a misunderstanding? Was there a reason behind it? And is Sanada's anger even justified? Please read and find out! Sorry, it's not yaoi. SanadaOC. R&R!


Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or New Prince of Tennis or the characters in both. The manga was written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. I only own my OC, Takeda Sabraiel [Rai] (said the same as "Rye" like in "Catcher in the Rye" by J.)

It wasn't normal, and Genichirou Sanada hated anything abnormal in his normal daily routine. The limping was the first thing he noticed, but the little eye contact and constant avoiding didn't help either. Sanada was suspicious and he didn't like that feeling at all...

"Rai, will you be walking home with me today after tennis practice?" Sanada asked his girlfriend suddenly. The black haired girl turned from the book she was currently reading at her desk.

"Why so sudden, Gen-kun?" She asked, dark brown eyes studying him curiously.

"You've been coming home at various times for the past week. Sometimes earlier but often late at night. I thought perhaps it would be best to come home with me once in a while." Sanada said blatantly as Rai blinked. Sanada could have sworn he saw a flash of hurt pass through her eyes, but brushed it off.

"If that's how you feel, then I suppose I can wait for you to finish with tennis. I might be arriving at the courts a little after you start though. I'm meeting with someone as soon as school is over." Rai replied curtly and she turned back to her book.

Although not satisfied with her answer or her tone, Sanada nodded and walked to his own desk as the bell rang, marking the end of the lunch period.

For the rest of the school day, Rai appeared both agitated and in her own world. Twice, Suzuki-sensei had to call her name multiple times before getting Rai's attention. Once the bell rang at the end of the school day, Rai had sprinted out of the classroom and was gone before Sanada had to chance to see which way she went. At the courts, he only grew more suspicious.

"Yanagi, where's Niou?" Yukimura asked as Sanada looked around. The remaining regulars looked around, just noticing the lack of the trickster, and shrugged. Snickers came from the group of 8th and 9th graders behind the regulars. Some whispered to each other, but the regulars could still hear every word.

"Wasn't he walking towards the clubroom with Rai-san?" "Yeah, he had his arm around her shoulder and it didn't look like she was pushing him away." "Haha, what is she's cheating of Sanada-fukubouchou?" "What if she's not even a virg- Ah!"

A tennis ball flew through the air and embedded itself into the fence behind the gossiping boys as they all scrambled to avoid behind hit. Sanada didn't see who hit the ball, but was glad they did so before he had a chance to. Sanada gripped his racket harder. It couldn't be, right? Rai wouldn't cheat on him would she? Carefully keeping his anger in check, he stalked towards the clubroom with the regulars and the rest of the tennis club following behind him.

As he approached the clubroom, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. Wheeling around, he found himself face to face with his captain, Seiichi Yukimura. The blue haired boy's eyes were soft yet serious as he reasoned with his vice captain

"Do you plan on knocking down the door? Perhaps it's a misunderstanding. Why not listen first; Rai doesn't seem like the type of girl who would cheat."

"It's wrong to listen in on others conversations"

"Yet it's not wrong to barge into a clubroom without proper reason? You have no evidence to back up the claim of those 9th graders." Yukimura countered.

Taking a deep breath, Sanada sighed and nodded. No one could argue with Yukimura and win. Besides, perhaps Yukimura was right. Maybe this was all just a misunderstanding. As he placed his hand on the handle, he leaned in and heard two distinct voices.

"I'm not sure about this." A feminine voice said quietly. Sanada tightened his grip on the door's handle. He knew that voice . "Genichirou-"

"Sanada won't do it. He'd probably be too worried about hurting you" Another voice snickered. Sanada's eyes narrowed slightly. It was Niou.

"This just seems wrong. I mean, I've never done it with someone else before. I usually do it to myself" Sanada's eyes widened fractionally at that. When...and how...?

"But its not enough, right? You just can't hit that spot, can you? Lie down. Trust me, I'm good at this." Audible gasps could be heard around Sanada. He turned and saw the rest of the regulars and members, ears pressed against the wall, trying to catch everything. Even Renji and Yukimura seemed increasingly curious as to what was going on inside the clubroom. Sanada felt his stomach turn, thought he didn't show it. What was this feeling? A soft thud was heard from inside as Genichirou returned his attention to the two in the room

"Ohh...it hurts..." from the corner of his eye, he could see Akaya's face start to redden. Akaya had known Sabraiel since he was little, and viewed Sabraiel as an older sister, always looking up to her. Sanada couldn't tell if he was getting red from anger or embarrassment.

"It'll hurt at first. You're tense. Just relax..." Niou said so quietly that Sanada just barely caught it.

"Oh! Is that it? I'm not feeling anything" Rai teased. Sanada felt his stomach turn again. Rai never teased him! His stomach tightened more. What is this feeling?

"Are you jealous, Genichirou?" A voice to his left asked. Sanada glared over at Yukimura, who had a slight smirk on his face. Jealous...could that be it? Was he capable of being jealous? Niou's voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

"I'm gonna make you scream."

At that, Akaya launched toward the handle, only to be pulled back by Marui and Jackal. Yanagi, a gentleman as always, was covering his face and shaking his head. Behind him, Renji was scribbling down notes furiously into his notebook, mumbling to himself, with a small blush starting to creep onto his face. Sanada's grip on the handle tightened even more than he thought possible. It took all his strength to refrain from throwing the door open, but the confident tone in Niou's voice was the last straw. Sanada slammed the handle of the door down so quickly that he ended up removing it altogether. Throwing the door open, the sight that greeted him stopped him in his tracks.

Both Rai and Niou were on the floor and froze when they heard the door slam open. Niou's eyes grew wide for a second then narrowed as he smirked. He was hovering over Rai as she stared with one eyebrow raised not at Sanada, but at the entourage of regulars and tennis members that piled in after him.

"Rai nee-san! I- what- you- why are you two clothed?" Akaya started, confused, as he picked himself off the ground, the others following suite.

It was true. Both Rai and Niou were clothed. Niou in his tennis uniform and Rai in shorts and a black t-shirt that looked as if it were too big to belong to her. Sanada recognized it as one of his shirts that went missing about a week earlier. She was wearing his shirt, but she was with another boy? Was this supposed to be an insult? Had they intervened just in time? It was Niou who was the first to speak.

"I was helping Rai stretch out her lower back. She's been complaining about it for a while now, so I was gonna crack it for her." Niou's eyes narrowed once again into a smirk as he looked at all the reddened faces of his teammates, realization dawning on him. "What did you perverts THINK we were doing in here, hmm?"

At that all the regulars and club members looked away, suddenly interested in random parts of the room.

Niou pushed himself up and away from Rai, holding out a hand to help her up, but she wouldn't take it. She had moved into a sitting position, legs crossed, looking past Niou's hand, her eyes hard. Realizing she wouldn't take his hand, Niou let it fall to his side, concern making its way onto his face.

"Rai nee-san...?" Akaya started, moving towards Rai who remained silent. As he got closer, Rai closed her eyes and sighed, shoulders visibly sagging.

"Niou-kun, I told you this was a mistake. " She said, gracefully picking herself off the ground, picking up her bag, and making her way to the door. As she passed by Sanada, she spoke again, "I thought I proved to you that you could trust me. I guess I was wrong..." she trailed off. For a moment, no one moved. Rai sighed and went on,

"Ahhh...but I guess a promise is a promise, I'll wait for tennis to end so we can walk home together. You should all hurry to the tennis courts. You've already missed thirty minutes of practice...but I guess that's my fault too, yeah?"

With that, she walked out the door. One by one, the members of the tennis team filed out and hustled to the courts, ordered by Yukimura to start their drills. Sanada had yet to move, and soon, only Yukimura was left. Putting a hand on Sanada's shoulder, he said, "Trust is what she needs right now. And acceptance. Perhaps...an apology is in order?"

Yukimura smiled gently at Sanada before removing his hand from Sanada's shoulder and walking out as well.

Alone, Sanada sighed to himself. He hadn't thought it through rationally. He had let the rumors and remarks from the other members get to him. Apparently, he hadn't learned from his mistakes and Yukimura was right. He needed to apologize. Putting on a mask of indifference, he walked back to the tennis courts to start practice.

After the incident in the clubroom, the rest of practice ran smoothly. Sanada refused to acknowledge Niou, only speaking to him to bark orders or criticize his game. However, it also didn't help that that the one Sanada needed to apologize to was lying down on the bleachers, both arms tucked under her head, back to the courts. Sanada, for the most part, pushed the earlier events and her presence out of his mind as he focused on tennis.

Once practice ended and all members exited the courts, Sanada made his way over to the bleachers. It had gotten colder, and as he approached he noticed she had pulled her arms into the oversized shirt, hugging herself inside to keep warm. A few shivers ran through her body, and she pulled her knees close to her chest. Sanada couldn't help but notice how small she looked, curled up as she was. To him, it didn't seem...natural. This wasn't the stubborn, independent girl he had come to know. She looked tired, as if all her burdens suddenly crashed down on her. Stopping in front of the bleachers, Sanada debated whether he should reach out and give her a shake, in case she was sleeping. He opted not to, withdrawing his hand at the last minute. After a minute, he began speaking to her back.

"I...apologize. For doubting you. This time, and last time too. I should've known better." He tipped his head down just enough that his cap covered his eyes. He didn't want her knowing he wasn't looking at her. He could think of a lot of things he could be apologizing for, but Rai was never one for long, winded speeches. He heard her move into a sitting position.

The silence was palpable as he felt her stare at him. Sighing softly he lifted his eyes to meet hers.

"I'm sorry." Sanada said again, willing her to believe him. Slowly, a smile started to form on her face before she let out a short laugh as she moved towards him, shaking her head and jumping off the bleachers.

"It's a step in the right direction. I guess I should apologize too. Maybe I should've told you what was wrong instead of pretending everything was okay." She said as she went on tiptoes to quickly give him a kiss on the cheek before hiking her bag higher on her shoulder and jogging towards the entrance of Rikkai Dai.

Stopping short of the entrance, she turned around and faced Sanada, gesturing him to hurry up.

Sanada only shook his head and made his way towards her to head home. As they passed the entrance, Rai leaned towards him once more to whisper something into his ear.

"By the way, I'm keeping the shirt."

A/N: Hope you liked it, I'd love reviews even if you didn't like it. I'm actually in the process of writing up a story that'll give this background. I was going to post some parts of the story first and then upload this as a side story, but this was easier to write so I'm just going to throw this out first. Hopefully not everyone jumped to the conclusion that Niou was just trying to help Rai crack her back. For those that did figure it out, props to you! If you didn't really understand what was going on, I don't really know how to explain. It's spinal manipulation, I guess. My trainers at the gym would do it after my workout to crack my back. Trust me, if you're tense it hurts but if you relax and let your back pop you'll feel so much better afterwards. Anyway, please review and Happy Holidays!


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